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Shadowing practice: Q&A with Tim Ferriss — Habits, Sleep, Journaling, Psychedelics, HRV Training, and More

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  1. Hey guys, it's Tim.0:00
  2. This is my first video Q &A experiment.0:01
  3. Let's get it out.0:04
  4. Hey, Tim.0:05
  5. So my question's around discipline.0:06
  6. I wanted to ask if you have any areas that are just difficult for you to develop discipline around.0:08
  7. It seems like you have incredible habits around journaling.0:13
  8. That's a habit that I just have a hard time trapping.0:16
  9. On the journaling, do less than you think you're cable doing.0:18
  10. That's number one.0:23
  11. You really try to push it.0:24
  12. This is true for me too.0:25
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  1. And then I'll abandon.0:26
  2. So get the five minute journal.0:28
  3. Keep it super, super simple.0:29
  4. Just use that for a while if you can.0:31
  5. And keep it five minutes.0:33
  6. Don't push it.0:34
  7. And then as far as discipline, routine and all that, oh yeah, I struggle all the time.0:35
  8. I mean, if I don't have systems incentives, if it's not blocked out in my calendar, then yeah, I'm going to struggle with it.0:39
  9. I'm very much human in that respect.0:46
  10. And there are people who are kind of mutants.0:49
  11. I'm not one of them.0:51
  12. If you're trying to prove to yourself that you can stick with some type of journaling practice, it doesn't need to be longhand.0:52
  13. Try the five minute journal.0:57
  14. Hi, Tim.0:57
  15. I noticed that you have a shelf with what looks like maybe souvenirs back there.0:59
  16. How do you decide which souvenirs to buy?1:03
  17. Hey there.1:05
  18. Yes, you are right.1:06
  19. You can see behind me all of these souvenirs and books and chachis and so on from various travels and experiences.1:06
  20. The way that I choose those is pretty simple.1:14
  21. It's to elicit a particular feeling or remind me of a particular, say, mantra or principle that I'm trying to take into my own life.1:15
  22. So there's a copy of my friend's book, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It by Kamal Ravakan.1:25
  23. And the face of the book is out to remind me of various things.1:32
  24. You can see that photograph of Milford Sound New Zealand, which is a feeling of serenity.1:36
  25. And then I've got all sorts of stuff.1:41
  26. One on the top from Japan, some things from Mexico.1:43
  27. Those all elicit particular feelings for me.1:46
  28. And that is the guiding light or the compass that I use to choose things.1:48
  29. Hi Tim.1:54
  30. And let's say if you meet with your younger self at a party and you only have two, maybe three minutes to talk, what advice would you give him?1:55
  31. Hey man, thanks for the question.2:03
  32. On the what advice I would give my younger self?2:04
  33. Well, I mean, let's say they're 21.2:07
  34. I would say, you know, you can get to the other side.2:10
  35. There's darkness in your life.2:14
  36. I know you visit it, but you can get to the other side and find joy and find some degree of ease.2:15
  37. It's not always going to be easy, but like you are going to be beyond okay.2:22
  38. And all the things that you dream about, like you'll eventually be able to do those things.2:28
  39. So I'd say that number one, really, because without hope, all the other tactical, strategic stuff, it doesn't matter.2:32
  40. So like teaching, trying to impart some degree of optimism would be really important.2:38
  41. Then I would say meditate, meditate every morning, start now.2:43
  42. Do it twice a day if you can.2:47
  43. 20 minutes.2:49
  44. It's pretty easy.2:50
  45. I would do that.2:51
  46. And then probably a very cautious recommendation to have a conversation about very judicious, supervised use of psychedelics in the case of acute, deep depression or severe anxiety.2:53
  47. So again, those have risks.3:08
  48. They have lots of legal risks, certainly, and psychological, psycho emotional risks.3:11
  49. So they're not a free lunch necessarily, but I would say those things.3:16
  50. And then I mean, I always viewed this as kind of a cop out, but probably to explore therapy, talk therapy on some level.3:22
  51. And I would recommend a few things like internal family systems and a couple of other options that I found useful in the last handful of years.3:31
  52. Hey, Tim, do you find it hard for people of influence or wealth or any amount of celebrity?3:38
  53. Do you find it hard for them to get out of their own echo chambers or to escape confirmation bias?3:44
  54. Hey there.3:50
  55. Thanks for the question.3:50
  56. That's a really good question, really important question on confirmation bias.3:51
  57. So I think it's very easy for anyone, not just people with money or influence, but really anyone who has developed a certain friend group, a certain peer group to3:55
  58. succumb to confirmation bias.4:08
  59. And just for people who might be wondering what that is, at least as I understand it, it's really deciding your beliefs and then having those reinforced both by your4:10
  60. environment, but specifically looking for evidence consciously or subconsciously because you put a lens on that reinforces what you already believe.4:20
  61. So my closest friends are those people who are going to stress test a lot of my positions.4:29
  62. They're going to force me to defend a lot of what I believe, right?4:33
  63. The belief is just a thought that we take to be true.4:35
  64. So a lot of people within my friend group, let's just say, would disagree with one another about everything you can imagine.4:37
  65. So that's great.4:46
  66. If you have friends who are calmly able to strongly disagree with other people and to have those conversations, it's not easy.4:49
  67. And I think it's very important to be able to listen, to pay attention to someone's feedback respectfully, to consider it, right?4:58
  68. That's really important.5:05
  69. Not just read it, but actually consider it, ask yourself whether it's true.5:06
  70. And then not just be open -minded, but have conversely the conviction to stick with certain beliefs or principles if you feel like they're very well founded and supported.5:10
  71. And that's fucking tricky.5:21
  72. It's super tricky.5:23
  73. But if you allow your views and behaviors and beliefs to be shaped by feedback on the internet, then you're lost, right?5:26
  74. You're a shit without a rudder.5:34
  75. If you don't have some type of focus with respect to principles that you predetermined, you're going to use.5:35
  76. So very important also that when I'm looking at feedback or presenting anyone else feedback, I ask myself, could I defend this, right?5:42
  77. Like if this were a debate stage, could I really defend this?5:48
  78. And is this being thought through rationally, right?5:52
  79. Is it rational or is it a fad of some type?5:55
  80. There are a lot of fads and thoughts.5:57
  81. So hopefully that helps somehow.6:00
  82. But yes, I think about these things a lot.6:01
  83. Hello Tim.6:04
  84. This is Christopher from Norway.6:05
  85. About eight years ago, I read your book, The Four Hour Workweek, and I quit my job because of it.6:07
  86. It's the single best decision I ever made.6:12
  87. It's led me into a different path.6:14
  88. I'm a sound engineer on the recording studio, and I'm a web developer and also a owner of a deli shop in a small town in Norway.6:16
  89. And because of your book, there's a small deli shop located in a small town in Norway.6:25
  90. Strange.6:31
  91. My question is regarding the post -production of your podcast.6:31
  92. What's the routine like?6:36
  93. And are you outsourced to cutting anything, the sound, the enhancements?6:37
  94. Hey man, I love the fact that there's a shop in a small town in Norway because of the book, or more accurately because of what you did after reading6:43
  95. the book.6:51
  96. So someday I hope to visit.6:52
  97. Love Norway.6:54
  98. Love, love that country.6:55
  99. So let's see, post -production on the podcast is pretty simple.6:56
  100. I record, that's usually via Zencaster or Squadcast or Skype.7:00
  101. They all have bugs, so I'll just say that in advance.7:06
  102. None of them are perfect.7:09
  103. And then that will provide audio from both sides.7:10
  104. I will record backup audio via QuickTime on the laptop, generally using ATR 2100.7:14
  105. There's a new name for the newer model that has a USB -C connection.7:20
  106. So I'm using that.7:24
  107. And that's on the production side.7:25
  108. So now we have all the files.7:27
  109. The files go into Dropbox.7:28
  110. Then that Dropbox link will go into Slack.7:30
  111. There are a few different ways we do this, but it'll go into a Slack channel and the engineer who works on the audio, as well as my producer, both7:35
  112. in that channel.7:42
  113. And then I will indicate headline options, edits.7:44
  114. So I'll take notes as we're recording the podcast with a guest on things that might need editing or things that might need to be removed, especially if they request7:49
  115. things.7:59
  116. And then those files are immediately sent to transcription, so that the transcript can be put into a Google Doc so that if my producer has any suggested edits or8:00
  117. any questions for me, those are going to all be added into a Google Doc.8:09
  118. Those get approved and I find those tasks because they're added to a sauna by the producer.8:13
  119. And that's about it.8:21
  120. Sometimes there are things for me to approve beforehand, and those will all go into a sauna to get my attention.8:22
  121. And then off it goes into the interwebs.8:27
  122. Hey, Tim, as I'm moving more into a managerial role in my full -time work, as well as having very serious hobbies of jujitsu and cooking, having difficulty striking that8:32
  123. balance of creating more than you consume.8:43
  124. And I was just curious to hear if you had any additional frameworks or strategies of approaching the create over -consume issue.8:46
  125. So a couple of things on creating and counterbalancing the managing.8:54
  126. I would say with the jujitsu, there's a lot of creativity there, certainly.8:59
  127. You could check out, I mean, you would be consuming on one hand, but it would be in the service of creating anything online by Marcelo Garcia's Academy, which was9:05
  128. co -founded with Josh Weitzkin.9:12
  129. I know that they are probably not doing any classes currently, but you can see back catalog, and it's thematically organized by transition, the position, technique, et cetera.9:14
  130. So you can see some amazing stuff, especially inspiring.9:24
  131. For the cooking, I mean, this seems self -interested, but the four -hour chef has a lot of experimentation that you can add in.9:27
  132. And what's nice about the experimentation in the four -hour chef is that it's intended to teach you principles and tools.9:32
  133. You may be already super advanced if so, this might not apply, but it teaches you both kind of the grammar and the idiom and the vocabulary of cooking in9:38
  134. a way that allows you to then take those things and translate them all over the place to different cuisines.9:47
  135. So that could be fun to experiment with.9:51
  136. At the very least, check out the egg part, which allows you to learn the flavor combinations of different regions and countries.9:54
  137. That's pretty easy and pretty fun.10:00
  138. So I'll just give that to you as a starting point.10:02
  139. Hi, Tim.10:04
  140. My question is about your research with psychedelics and the narrative around psychedelics.10:05
  141. The data will speak for itself on whether they work, but it seems like with your firepower on marketing, it could be great for the cause to put some of10:11
  142. that behind it to help change that narrative and get the word out.10:20
  143. Atta hati.10:25
  144. So on the psychedelic front, thanks so much for the kind words.10:26
  145. I'm very, very excited about certainly the scientific side.10:28
  146. And as things scale, as you have the experiences and certainly administration of these compounds going from thousands to tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, possibly, let's say, in10:32
  147. any given year, right, or even any given month, then there are going to be bad things that happen.10:45
  148. That's just the way in that the laws of big numbers work.10:53
  149. So I think what's going to be very, very important is getting insurance on board to both lower the costs and also assess risk, because that will be part of10:56
  150. the process for evaluating anything for insurance coverage.11:06
  151. There also needs to be self -policing and that means trade organizations or just organizations could be non -profit that help to ensure that best practices are followed, right?11:12
  152. So there could be incentives and sort of public pressure through organizations that would bring together, say, clinics of different types.11:25
  153. And I'm sure these exist for pedamine, but across the board, this will be more and more important, since if you don't want regulations to crack down, then you need11:35
  154. to self -police and you need to have structures in place and incentives in place that help ensure people are being their best selves organizationally and personally and as practitioners.11:44
  155. So hopefully that makes sense.11:57
  156. I'm going to do my best and thanks for the video.11:58
  157. Hi, Jim.12:01
  158. You've spoken a couple of times recently about the importance of having more self -compassion.12:01
  159. I was wondering if you had found any particular techniques or practices that had helped you develop more self -compassion or self -worth or self -love?12:06
  160. Hey, Andy.12:14
  161. Yes, self -compassion, self -love is a work in progress and there are practices and tools.12:15
  162. I would say radical acceptance.12:20
  163. The book by Tara Brock is very, very helpful.12:22
  164. I would say that if you have access to an internal family systems, IFS therapist, that is also very, very helpful.12:25
  165. But I would read radical acceptance first and then loving kindness meditation, directed at younger versions of yourself.12:32
  166. It's often difficult to give compassion to our current day selves.12:40
  167. It's often easier, I would say, to rewind the clock and give it to yourself when you were young, perhaps when you didn't get something that you needed, the support,12:43
  168. the love, whatever it might be, or when you were going through a really tough time.12:51
  169. It's a lot easier to extend compassion sometimes to the earlier versions of ourselves.12:54
  170. And then we can slowly work to the present day.12:59
  171. And I have found it really helpful once you've developed that visualization practice to take 10, 20 seconds and to extend love to a younger version of yourself, say a13:02
  172. childhood version.13:14
  173. When you have your meals, just close your eyes for a minute and treat it as a grace and that way it's not something new you're adding to your schedule.13:15
  174. It's in effect piggybacking on top of something you're going to do anyway, which is eat three times a day or so, depending on what your rhythm is.13:22
  175. Hope that helps.13:29
  176. Hey, Tim.13:30
  177. It's Mark Gunther from Maryland.13:31
  178. Thank you for raising money for the MAPS Capstone Challenge.13:33
  179. I wanted to ask you what kind of obstacles you ran into as you tried to persuade people to donate, to help MAPS, make MDMA into a medicine.13:36
  180. To what degree do you find there still is a stigma surrounding psychedelics?13:44
  181. Thanks a lot.13:49
  182. Hey, Mark.13:49
  183. It's good to see you.13:50
  184. And thanks for all your coverage of the psychedelic science space.13:51
  185. I would say in terms of challenges in raising money for the Capstone campaign, right, so ultimately whatever it was, 30 million bucks, the challenges were on one hand specific13:54
  186. to MDMA because of its history of use as ecstasy in a recreational context, a drug of potential abuse, which many people don't realize was actually preceded by its use14:06
  187. therapeutically under code name Adam for quite some time in the underground.14:18
  188. There is that association that needed to be overcome for some of the organizations involved to ultimately commit and be very, very supportive.14:22
  189. There were otherwise really only the challenges that you face when raising money for nonprofits and for nonprofit causes, especially from business folks.14:33
  190. A lot of them like to make money and will either give you the line that for -profit market -driven solutions are going to be the best solution, although I14:42
  191. think MAPS does a good job with that with their pharmaceutical development co.14:48
  192. And if they claim one tip is if a billionaire tells you that they have liquidity issues, that just means they don't want to do it and you shouldn't waste14:53
  193. your breath trying to convince them otherwise, move on to the next person.15:01
  194. So there you have it.15:05
  195. But ultimately it was a lot easier than expected.15:06
  196. Curious about your thoughts on your own kind of past upbringing, maybe even your trauma, how any of that is really connected to the fact that you really focus more15:08
  197. towards being an individual performer, whether that's wrestling or martial arts, tango, your business really kind of as a solopreneur that you are really more comfortable as the individual performer.15:16
  198. Hey, thanks for the question.15:27
  199. Yep.15:28
  200. I think for sure it's possible that the upbringing, being the oldest child, being also a runt when I was growing up, so the sports that were available to me15:28
  201. were mostly individual.15:39
  202. It wasn't necessarily a byproduct of trauma, it was just really small.15:40
  203. So doing something like football or soccer or whatever was going to be a nightmare.15:43
  204. But I did do soccer for a bunch of years.15:46
  205. I enjoyed the team sports.15:48
  206. What I did not enjoy was the ability for anyone on the team to blame other people for, say, a loss or to give themselves unfair credit for a win.15:49
  207. So I like the accountability of the individual sports.16:00
  208. As far as guests go, a lot of the folks I'm interviewing are parts of big teams, but I'm generally more of a lone operator, generally speaking.16:04
  209. That's just where I am most comfortable.16:14
  210. I'm also highly introverted.16:15
  211. So I think that has something to do with it.16:17
  212. I'm very much depleted by lots of social interaction or large groups.16:19
  213. Some people, like my girlfriend, are energized.16:26
  214. They're the opposite.16:28
  215. They're the extrovert energized bunnies, but that's just not me.16:29
  216. Hey there, Tim.16:32
  217. We just purchased a new home, me and my wife, and I just realized that we're slightly south of the flight of the airplanes that come out of the airport,16:34
  218. and it's kind of loud.16:44
  219. I'm pretty bummed I didn't do more research in this area.16:45
  220. Any hacks for using stuff to make your bedroom quieter at night when you sleep?16:48
  221. Sleep and blocking out noise or overwriting noise, in a sense.16:55
  222. I think about this a lot.17:00
  223. I'm very sensitive to sound.17:01
  224. So there are a few tools I can recommend that I found particularly helpful.17:03
  225. The Marpak Dome Dohm is a white noise machine that I found very helpful.17:07
  226. Some people use an iPhone and a noise app to generate white noise or brown noise, which some people prefer.17:13
  227. I use the Marpak Dome.17:21
  228. I find it to provide more of a soothing fan type of quality.17:22
  229. If cold air isn't an issue, you can always point it outside the doorway.17:28
  230. A fan, actually a very cheap $20 fan that is pointing out the door can also be helpful.17:32
  231. I use Mac, M -A -C -K silicone earplugs if I really need to sleep.17:38
  232. I find this to be more comfortable than the conventional foam earplugs, which tend to be very uncomfortable if I turn onto my side.17:44
  233. Whereas the Mac, which you can also use for swimming, I find to conform very nicely to the side of the head.17:54
  234. Hey Tim, my question is about questions.18:00
  235. How do you collect your questions?18:02
  236. And then from there, how do you test your questions?18:04
  237. Do you deliberately try them out in conversation with friends and loved ones?18:06
  238. How do they then go from that testing stage to, okay, I'm going to try this in a podcast?18:09
  239. Hey David, yeah, I think a lot about questions.18:14
  240. I love questions.18:15
  241. I typically record questions if I come across them in conversation or elsewhere, in notes first, natively on the phone.18:16
  242. And then I will often take them and copy them over into Evernote or increasingly I'll be using Roam, Roam Research.18:22
  243. I don't really test them out on friends and family.18:31
  244. I will very often just jump into the hot water with a podcast guest and test it out because I rarely record live in front of any type of audience,18:34
  245. which means if it doesn't work, we can just cut it out in post -production.18:43
  246. What I've found over time also is that it's important to take note of questions that work and questions that don't.18:46
  247. But if you ask, especially a really good follow -up question, they give an answer, what did you learn from that?18:52
  248. Right?18:59
  249. Or they give you an answer, how did that make you feel?18:59
  250. What was it like when A, B, and C happened?19:03
  251. Right?19:05
  252. These types of very simple follow -up questions can really yield a lot of gold and in some ways the follow -ups are more important than the openers.19:05
  253. Reskilling is not a term I'm terribly familiar with, but I think I do get the basic idea.19:22
  254. I think the best time to explore new terrain is very often when you are gainfully employed.19:26
  255. You could potentially look at consulting with one or more startups or working for free for one or more startups for a period of time in addition to your current19:31
  256. work.19:41
  257. If you're in a fast -growing area, you will begin to get first -hand appreciation of what skills are valued.19:41
  258. There are certain fundamental skills that really magnify everything else you might do.19:47
  259. Writing really well and speaking really well.19:51
  260. So I would say you could look at AI and different types of coding and so on, but as a human, really, really skilled or skillful speaking and writing is19:55
  261. going to get you a lot further than you might expect.20:07
  262. It's a multiplier for everything else you might do.20:10
  263. Hey, Tim, what has been your journey so far in opening up, being vulnerable, and sharing your depression with your girlfriend?20:13
  264. So the first thing I would say is actually something that I picked up from my first podcast with Brene Brown, where we were talking about trust and the nature20:20
  265. of developing trust.20:28
  266. And she said, people think that you earn trust first and then you offer vulnerability second.20:29
  267. If you lead with vulnerability, that develops trust and increases the bond of trust between you.20:35
  268. So I've often had the questions that you have, right?20:41
  269. How do I talk to my girlfriend about this?20:44
  270. I'm just afraid that this, this, and this, and I know that's an unreasonable fear and it's kind of silly, but I just don't know how to talk to her20:46
  271. about it.20:51
  272. And I was working with a coach and I said something like that to him and he said, why don't you just say that to your girlfriend?20:52
  273. And I was like, oh, yeah, good advice.20:58
  274. Also, real quick, nonviolent communication, the work by Byron, Katie, a mago dialogue and couples therapy.21:01
  275. Check all of those out.21:06
  276. Hey, Tim, my question is regarding your relationship.21:07
  277. You mentioned to Kevin Rose that you schedule to have deeper conversations, you batch, and so it's not just coming up whenever it comes up.21:10
  278. I love that.21:17
  279. My question is, in the moment, when it comes up, where do you put the feelings?21:18
  280. How do you have any tips or tools as how to handle those moments?21:22
  281. Hey, Katie, one of the techniques that we both use is simply making an appointment.21:25
  282. So when something comes up, we will ask when would be a good time to have a chat or may I make an appointment to chat about a few things21:29
  283. that are on my mind?21:38
  284. So then you have a set point in time.21:39
  285. When you know you'll be discussing these things.21:42
  286. Another tool in the toolkit is Byron Katie's the work.21:44
  287. There are certain exercises that you can use as well as morning pages to kind of diffuse or at least in some ways deconstruct your own beliefs before you bring21:47
  288. them to your partner.21:56
  289. Hey, Tim, my question is, how do you figure out where to live?21:57
  290. I'm thinking about moving to a new city.22:00
  291. And I was wondering if you have any experience or knowledge in figuring out which factors carry the most weight when looking to move somewhere new.22:02
  292. A good place to start, I think, is asking yourself, why do I want to leave where I am currently?22:10
  293. Rather than pick a full -time destination, you might look at how you could test drive a number of different locations for, say, at least two weeks, just enough to22:14
  294. see some variations in weather, for instance, and to give yourself a chance to explore and get a feel for the personality of the cities.22:21
  295. Of course, there are a lot of popular places right now, tons of folks moving to Florida, tons of folks moving to, say, Colorado, to Nashville.22:29
  296. There's a long list.22:38
  297. The third coast, Austin, Texas, certainly is popular.22:39
  298. And I feel like half of Los Angeles is here already.22:42
  299. I would encourage you to also look at which factors that are compelling you to move are internal versus external.22:44
  300. So there may be things to work on that otherwise will follow you to wherever your next destination is.22:51
  301. Hey, Tim, Franz here.22:56
  302. You talk a lot about hallucinogens, psilocybin, and so forth.22:58
  303. And here in Austria, where I am, it's very hard to find places or people who can do guided sessions with yourself.23:04
  304. My wife is working in the mobile palliative care team here in Salzburg.23:12
  305. And I think they'd be really interested in trying this out at the end of patients' lives.23:19
  306. And so I was just wondering what would be your advice?23:27
  307. How could I go about finding someone in my area, since you're so connected in this field, I'd be very grateful for your advice.23:30
  308. Thanks, man.23:41
  309. Hey, Franz.23:42
  310. I would have to know a lot more about the specifics on the ground.23:43
  311. And also, I can't really give too much advice, certainly on this channel, related to something that might be against the norms, legally speaking, where you are.23:47
  312. But there are a few things I might look into.23:58
  313. So I would consider looking at ketamine.24:00
  314. Ketamine may be a legal option, at least it is in much of the United States, where some of the other psychedelics are not.24:03
  315. And ketamine can be used in both non -psychedelic and psychedelic doses, even though it's known predominantly as an anesthetic.24:13
  316. Hi, Tim.24:19
  317. My question is if there were one podcast episode or one book of yours that you would want your audience to share with someone who has never heard of you24:20
  318. before, what would that be?24:27
  319. It depends on what your objective is, if you want to get them hooked and what their likes and dislikes are.24:29
  320. But I would say a few that immediately come to mind, if you want to try to hook someone, would be Jamie Foxx, the first episode I did with him.24:33
  321. Elizabeth Gilbert, also extremely, extremely strong, or Mary Carr, both of those I think are strong in some similar ways.24:41
  322. Those would be a few to start with.24:47
  323. Hey, Tim, this is Andrew from Colorado.24:48
  324. Just wondering when we can expect your next book.24:52
  325. Andrew, as far as the next book goes, I am strongly contemplating putting together a book on my healing journey, which certainly would include many of the excursions into non24:55
  326. -ordinary states of consciousness, which would include psychedelics.25:08
  327. It would include other, let's just call it modalities as well.25:12
  328. And one of the challenges for me is determining how to write such a book about direct experiences, some of which seem to defy any Western rational scientific explanation.25:16
  329. At least for the time being, put another way, how do I write this book without seeming like a total fucking raving lunatic?25:30
  330. Or maybe I don't care.25:37
  331. And I throw caution to the wind and just show my true colors.25:38
  332. We shall see.25:42
  333. So, TBD.25:43
  334. Hey, Tim, I've got a couple of questions related to HIV training and resonance breathing.25:44
  335. One of my professional backgrounds is at the intersection of AI and digital hard music.25:47
  336. I'm really curious if you practiced with music or with sound scapes or used anything like that in your training or practice.25:52
  337. And I know you talked a lot about how you struggle with thermal regulation.26:00
  338. I have the same problem.26:04
  339. I'd love to hear if you had any improvements with your thermal regulation through HIV training or also if you had any other resources or things that recently helped you26:05
  340. with the thermal regulation.26:15
  341. Hey, Max, I did a 10 -week program under Dr.26:16
  342. Leah Lagos and I worked with her directly.26:19
  343. We did experiment with music.26:21
  344. So, with a respiration strap and a pulse oximeter, we would do these live sessions together and identify different types of music that would affect my resonance and found a26:22
  345. number of songs, including a few from Santana that seemed to do the trick for me personally.26:34
  346. Of course, it's very, very individualized.26:38
  347. On thermal regulation, I would say what has helped the most is probably my new setup from a company called 8 Sleep.26:40
  348. I found their technology to be very easy to use, easy to set up and consistently effective at helping me with sleep onset, which is typically when I feel it26:49
  349. most severely and when it has the most negative impact on my quality of life is when I take a really long time to get to sleep or can't stay27:01
  350. asleep.27:08

English Speaking Practice with Tim Ferriss's Q&A on Discipline and Journaling

This is english speaking practice built on unscripted conversation: a Q&A where Tim Ferriss takes rapid fire questions from fans and answers them off the cuff, as a native speaker thinking in real time. It sits at CEFR B2 and moves at 198 words per minute, faster than most of the catalogue, so your ear has to keep pace with genuine, unedited American speech. The channel is The Tim Ferriss Show, and this clip opens on questions about discipline and journaling before moving into the souvenirs on his shelf.

What makes it worth the effort is the density of self correction and thinking out loud. Ferriss starts an answer, doubles back, adds a caveat, starts again. That pattern, the false start followed by the real sentence, is what real conversation sounds like, and it is exactly what most prepared audio strips out. Repeating a speaker who thinks in front of you trains your ear for english listening practice you cannot get from a script.

American Accent Training in This Q&A: The Language of Tim Ferriss's Answers

Three moments from the opening stretch reward close listening.

None of these lines use difficult vocabulary. What is difficult is the speed and the run on structure, and that gap between reading the words and producing them at pace is exactly the gap repetition closes.

  • "do less than you think you're cable doing" runs the words together so fast that the transcript itself blurs capable into cable; listen for how little time the middle syllables get.
  • "oh yeah, I struggle all the time" drops in mid sentence as a spoken aside, the kind of loose interjection a written sentence would never carry.
  • "Keep it super, super simple." doubles the same word for emphasis instead of reaching for a stronger adjective, and the stress lands equally on both repeats.

English Shadowing Practice for This B2 Conversation, Line by Line

Shadow the opening block in short passes rather than trying to cover the whole clip at once. At 198 words per minute a B2 listener needs to isolate lines, not chase the whole recording.

  • Start with "Hey guys, it's Tim." and "This is my first video Q &A experiment." to lock onto his baseline rhythm before the questions speed things up.
  • Isolate "do less than you think you're cable doing" and repeat it alone until the syllables land at native pace; the blurred middle is the hardest part of the line.
  • Take "And then as far as discipline, routine and all that, oh yeah, I struggle all the time." and repeat it in two halves, splitting at "and all that", since it will not fit in one breath at this pace.
  • Move to "Keep it super, super simple." and match the doubled stress on "super, super" exactly; that repetition carries the emphasis, not the words around it.
  • Finish on "So there's a copy of my friend's book, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It by Kamal Ravakan." to practise a long, noun heavy sentence without losing pace.
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